Getting the job done
PROSPECT — Where do UFO's land?
Under the bed, in the back of the closet and stacked in a corner.
Otherwise known as unfinished objects, these cast aside hobbies and projects were the focus of a recent retreat at Lutherlyn.
The second annual event attracted about 30 people to the Lutheran retreat center for space and time to work on their projects without the hustle and distraction of everyday life.
"You leave whatever's at home on cruise control,"joked Jennifer McIntire, Lutherlyn's development director and organizer for the event.
Knitters, scrapbookers, quilters and others arrived at the facility Friday evening. After settling into cabins of about six people each, the crowd took over a room in the camp's dining hall, beginning their work session after a short devotion.
Long tables accommodating three to six crafters provided plenty of space for sewing machines, scrapbooks and even a game of Scrabble.
By Saturday morning, the hall was abuzz with the rhythmic drone of sewing machines, the click of paper punches and the laughter shared by old and new friends.
"It's a wonderful weekend," said Shelvey Linsenmayer, a quilter from Greensburg. "It's relaxing, its fun, it's companionship."
Despite boisterous socializing, Cheryl Becker-George of Indiana, Pa., was making significant progress on her quilting projects, completing the binding on one quilt started in 1998."Quilters are the most impatient people I know," she said, noting she often switches from project to project instead of completing one at a time.A quilter for more than 45 years, she was joined at her table by experienced and inexperienced quilters and a knitter maneuvering a velvety soft yarn while seated in a rocking chair.Kathy Conrad of Verona, who came to catch up on some knitting, noted that she probably brought more projects than she can finish in one weekend."It's really easy to overestimate how much you can get done," she said.Her projects, some prayer shawls given to those in need of comfort, drew the attention of the others from behind their sewing machines.Without missing a stitch, the quilters who shared her table admired her fluffy blue and green shawls and stories of the comfort they have provided the grieving and ill.Just past a table of avid Scrabble players sat a row of scrapbookers, some catching up on projects long overdue.Jamie Weber of Shaler was busy assembling a baby book for her son, who is now 2Z\x years old."If I didn't come, I wouldn't be working on it at all," she said.A fellow mother, Lucy Macey of Mars, said it is much easier to make progress outside the home."There's no kids pulling at you," she said.Equipped with edging scissors, rubber stamps and stickers, the women swapped supplies and ideas, a help to Weber, who said deciding on a page design is her most difficult task.While many of those in attendance were busy with works in progress, one mother- daughter duo used the weekend as a time to take up the hobby of quilting.Barb Brown of Prospect and her 11-year-old daughter Amanda, both beginning quilters, used the expertise around them as encouragement to tackle their first quilts."There's so many people who can help when you get stuck," said Brown.Amanda's quilt, from a kit titled Crazy People, featured a variety of shirts, pants, shoes and heads that she had colored with fabric pens and matched up to form bodies.Lining up each block at the end of an empty table, Amanda checked her progress with McIntire, who also learned quilting through Lutherlyn.McIntire began quilting about six years ago, when she decided to tackle the acoustical problem in Lutherlyn's dining hall.During a retreat for women of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, she invited anyone with an interest in quilting to help create wall hangings for the dining rooms, that cut down on echoes.The group that met several weekends to complete the project hoped to meet again, which led to the development of an annual mystery quilting weekend in March, where quilters buy an assigned list of supplies to create a mystery quilted item.The spring weekend has also expanded to include a project for scrapbookers.Other gatherings include a fall quilt show and a Santa's Workshop weekend, similar to UFO, both started in 2006.For information on upcoming Lutherlyn retreats, call the camp at 724-865-2161.
